Bunny hunting
Best mouser on the farm! Those "bunnies" better watch out.
MCH Twin Creeks BH Bay Watch ++*S E
This semen collection of MCH Twin Creeks BH Bay Watch ++*S E took place nearly 16 years ago. Its a great feeling to see motility in these little swimmers.
#adga #nigeriandwarfgoats #americandairygoatassociation #artificialinsemination #breedingseason2020
There's a full days work in that bucket.
Bounce bounce bounce
My fencing partner needs longer legs or a bigger appetite.
Disbudding goats
Disbudding goats
I've posted this before, but it's been a couple years and I think it's a good topic. This time we have added a video to go with the process explained in the text. Keep in mind, this is how I do it and find it to be successful. I'm sure there are other methods to use as well. They even have fancy "buck tip" irons!
This is something I wish I could have seen when I first started disbudding kids. My first ones were pretty awful and ended up with scurs (partial horn growth).
Kids begin growing their horns very early in life. One can feel the little buttons form within a few days of birth. Disbudding works best if done before the buds get too large. When using a disbudding iron, the end result should be a nice copper colored ring with the bud popped off in the middle (should look white). The iron needs to stay on the skull for approximately 5 seconds. I twist it a little to make sure I have good contact. When time is up I flick the iron to remove the bud, almost like scraping the bud off with the edge of the iron, but in a quick efficient motion.
Posted in the comments are a few examples of the kids I disbudded today. You will notice the brown buck kid has a figure 8 burned with the disbudding iron. The cells that grow horns form a teardrop shape (much larger on bucks) and must be burned this way to prevent scurs.
Sidenote: There is no downtime after disbudding kids. They are bouncing around as soon as I let them go!
Farm hand
My farm hand definitely knows he gets paid by the hour.
When there is a nice day in October, you find some good help and work on the fence!
Getting decent pictures of kids is a chore in itself! Pictures of 2019 kids soon to follow! 🐐
We kicked off the kidding season today with CH Whispering Tales Savannah! Kids are sired by Wood Bridge Farm Chipotle. 3 does and 1 buck. Brantley was fascinated by his first kidding experience, as you can see!
Always one straggler in the group!
This chicken shares breakfast with the bucks everyday
Engle Acres is a small acreage located in central Iowa. Neither my wife nor I grew up raising livestock, so this has been a new venture for us.
